Posted
by
CmdrTaco
on Tuesday June 08, 2010 @11:50AM
from the we're-all-totally-xtreme dept.

nk497 writes "It's no surprise that professional gamers aren't quite as fit as elite athletes, but they do have something in common. According to a British academic, top-level players show similar psychological attributes as top athletes, such as the ability to manage anxiety, and have reaction times on par with fighter pilots. Dr. Micklewright said, 'When I first got asked to do [the study], my initial reaction was "don't be ridiculous, gaming is nothing like sport." But the more I thought about it, the more similarities [became clear], and I became more and more convinced that it was close in many ways to sport.' While sitting in front of a screen might not have the same physical demands as running a marathon, neither do playing snooker or darts. Still, while gamers show good reflexes, their health was worse than expected, with one 20-something professional player showing the same aerobic health as a 60-year-old smoker." This story is based on a BBC radio report which you can currently hear, although that link seems to say that it won't last.

How about some sort of sport where the higher the alcohol count in your blood the higher the bonus to your score is. The thing you are expected to do while seriously drunk should be something that gets harder the drunker you are.
I'd certainly watch that, considering i don't care much for normal sports.

I was going to go for something more along the lines of "both serve no purpose to society other than entertainment", but yours fits, too.

On the other hand, are they the 'top athletics' and 'top players' because they have the coordination and ability to handle stress, or did becoming the 'top X' cause them to gain these abilities? I suspect it's the former and they served only to train them a bit.

I'm a diehard gamer, but I'm not foolish enough to think it's anything other than pointless entertainment, just like almost all hobbies.

But you can't just think of the paycheck, you also have to consider the total compensation package. In the case of the President, his salary and responsibilities come with things like free housing, personal aircraft, and having the worlds most powerful military calling him Sir.

They get what they can get. They bring in a lot of money to the owners, why not charge that much?

The promoter has always known that the star attraction is his best guarantee of success at the box office. Mark Twain's satirical playbill for the Roman Coliseum didn't stray too far from the truth. The Innocents Abroad [about.com][1869, Chapter 26]

Overpaid my ass. Esports are not mainstream enough for all but a few to be paid to play. The sponsors haven't quite woken up to reality yet. Take the
HDH invitational [youtube.com] : every single game had more than 100,000 views, yet the prize pool was a mere $2500, and that was apparently the largest prize pool for a foreign starcraft tournament.

How much money do professional gamers make? A friend of mine played top-tier MLG games for money for a while, but he barely covered his travel expenses. Assuming 8-hour days, he didn't even make minimum wage. How many gamers make enough money that gaming is their only source of income? Athletes? Hint: there are way more athletes.

Look up some videos of Daigo Umehara playing Street Fighter. Many people underestimate the level of intellect that goes in to playing Street Fighter (playing it well, anyhow), and I guarantee he's smarter than you.

I lift weights. Weights are easy, it just takes the right pattern of reps at a certain percentage of your maximum, and good nutrition, to see gains (especially when beginning, and by the time you hit plateus you're probably already a monster). They're pretty much equivalent to playing any RPG where all you need is time to gain XP.

SCUBA diving is another one I've done. There were loads of old guys in the club and they even described it as an "old m

The "sportyness" is in the endless practicing and learning how not to damage joints, tendons, ligaments, etc. Eating the right foods, supplements, etc. Balancing lifting with at least some cardio to get the fat percentage low enough. Also there is some real world utility to being strong, its more "serious" or "adult" than moving a ball around by kicking it or tossing it.

SCUBA diving

My mistake, I meant the guys whom are paid huge money to weld, repair ships, work on shallow water offshore oil facilities, etc. Those

Also there is some real world utility to being strong, its more "serious" or "adult" than moving a ball around by kicking it or tossing it.

It's definitely beneficial to be strong, but professional football players are generally more fit than bodybuilders, and probably just as strong as many of them when it comes to their legs at least. There's a lot of overlap among the two, and IMO it's only your own opinion of what is important that decides that a weightlifter has more value than a footballer.

I happen to think football as a game is overrated, but I do respect the athletic ability of the players. Most bodybuilders, even if they also do a bit

Oh. In that case, I probably would enjoy the "war games". I did buy some game that was meant to simulate some Napoleonic battles for my Amiga when I was a kid, but I had no idea how the hell it worked.

Football players aren't real athletes? Let see you take a hit from a 280 pound person that moves like a gazelle.

So, a little old lady whom takes a hit by a 3K pound car must be approximately ten times more of a "real" athlete than a football player?

You might want o rethink criticizing other peoples intellect until you've sharpened your ability to have a discussion.

You sound like someone who insults mathematicians because you don't understand the subject

I'm referring to the intellectual level of the coverage on ESPN, and to some extent the culture of willful stupidity that surrounds it. Try watching it sometime. Note, I used to be highly interested in football, watch all the Packers games. Its a game of considerable tactical maneuvering, strategic insight, logistical long term planning. That's what I got out of it, an

So, a little old lady whom takes a hit by a 3K pound car must be approximately ten times more of a "real" athlete than a football player?

If she can take that hit thirty times in the course of three hours, each time jumping back to her feet and begging the coach for more opportunities, just so she could win a competition - hell yeah she'd be more of a real athlete in my book!

so we should pay them multiple millions of dollars cause they are too stupid to do anything else with their lives but to make us laugh while they chase a ball like dogs

Should? Probably not. But people do pay to watch football (either through tickets of ad revenue), so I'd rather the players got their fair share of such a lucrative entertainment industry, rather than it all going towards promoters.

fuck football players, even if 99% of them were not juiced up thugs too pussy to do anything real or meaningful

Says the AC posting on Slashdot. How does that compute to let you judge others for being 'pussy' or not making meaningful contributions?

Since it's been shown that aerobic exercise can improve reaction time [nih.gov], I can't help but wonder how much better of gamers they would be if they also exercised a bit as well. They wouldn't need to go to a gym. Just some running, or crunches, or something on a regular basis would help, I would bet.

I don't think mild physical activity like that promoted in some Wii games helps all that much. It's better than nothing, especially if you're a pensioner, but I don't think it'll increase your reaction times.

Since it's been shown that aerobic exercise can improve reaction time, I can't help but wonder how much better of gamers they would be if they also exercised a bit as well. They wouldn't need to go to a gym. Just some running, or crunches, or something on a regular basis would help, I would bet.

Or a copy of DDR ( Dance Dance Revolution ).

I used to read a weight loss success site where some sorry shut in like that got sucked into DDR and lost something like 100 lbs.

Sports typically have one or two major common injuries associated with them, like knee damage for cross country skiing. I wonder if this will show on gamers in 20 or 30 years.

I'm specifically interested if mental problems occur later in life from over-use of the brain. Some gamers typically work a mental job, then come home and engage in 5-6 hours of very mentally intensive activity. Your brain gets hammered pretty heavily over the course of a day.

Another possibility is eye damage. During intense gaming sessions I notice that I dry my eyes out repeatedly focusing by not blinking during specific events. I wonder if this will effect me in 20 years. On another note, most gamers I've met have the same vision as me and we can wear each other's glasses without issue.

You know, I was developing sore wrists from typing at a keyboard all day when I started my first job. I bought a wrist brace to help manage my ergnomics, but that got pretty old fast. You know what I figured out? You can work out your wrist, strengthen it, and this will help nullify some of the wrist/tendon issues from excessive keyboard or gaming work. I started doing pull-ups (knuckles turned outwards, away from the body) which really help to strengthen the forearm and the wrist. I also started using some

I've played computer/video games ever since I was a small child, and at age 23, I also work a as a software dev. I can no longer wear contacts due to my poor eye health, even though I've worn them for 7 years. Right now, if I put contacts in my eyes for one day, my eyes will be red all the next day. Continued use will cause extreme redness, blurry vision, and sensitivity to light. I don't have direct proof of the cause, but I suspect my eyes have sustained damage from several years of wearing contacts with

It's a bit too late now, but from a young age I've always kept a poster with some words on it at the opposite end of the room I game in. Every hour or so, I'll look away to the poster and read it three times over before going back to the screen. Focusing on a static image that is far away helps keep your eyes from "locking in" to near-focus mode.

Still, the number one thing that helps alleviate most gaming-related problems (other than weight) are frequent breaks. I try to walk away for five minutes every

I try to walk away for five minutes every hour, two at the most. This makes a bigger difference than you might think.

This is also vital for deep vein thrombosis prevention, spinal posture related issues, keeping properly hydrated, the eyestrain issue you already mentioned... Also eliminates or reduces sleepiness and daydreaming.

Also if you're not just grinding, but actually thinking, a physical perspective change and a pause in the thinking for a couple minutes can often result in higher total overall productivity. If you're mind's blank, staring even harder at the whiteboard doesn't help nearly as much as a short walk.

When I was younger, I had bad vision and they told me if I continued to stare at the computer screen which at the time was a CRT television, that I would end up requiring glasses. Despite the fact that I have gamed extensively for the last 27 years and now also sit for 8+ hours in front of multiple displays at work, I have 20/20 vision.

As for your comment about over-use of the brain, it was my understanding that we do not even fully utilize our brain. I think the human body is more resilient than most peo

Please don't try to tell me that a first person shooter is in any way "overuse of the brain". Even with a game like Starcraft for experrienced gamers many of the details are now muscle memory and rote repetition of patterns.

Even the very idea of "brain overuse" causing mental problems makes me shudder... what has happened to our society!?

Besides, a baseball pitcher, football quarterback, hockey goalie, auto racer, etc, require just as much (or more) focus, attention, and often strategy as most video games.

Please don't try to tell me that a first person shooter is in any way "overuse of the brain". Even with a game like Starcraft for experrienced gamers many of the details are now muscle memory and rote repetition of patterns.

Even the very idea of "brain overuse" causing mental problems makes me shudder... what has happened to our society!?

Besides, a baseball pitcher, football quarterback, hockey goalie, auto racer, etc, require just as much (or more) focus, attention, and often strategy as most video games...

I know that after work, playing Empire Total War for extended sessions was too much. I recently found playing FFXIII to be nice candy for the brain. It's not too thought-intensive, I'm still playing a game and I'm still having fun even if I'm not working all that hard at it.

I've raced for about 20 years in cross country skiing (starting with high school, then at the NCAA level in college, and now in citizen races) and have probably entered well over 100 events. More importantly I've known a lot of racers over the years. I've never, ever heard of knee damage being a common problem for cross country skiers. In fact, cross country skiing is one of the more gentle sports on joints, especially compared to long distance running which has a lot of pounding. There are tons of old peop

It was a bad example. I was going to use american football examples, but each position has different issues. I was drawing a mental blank.

My father used to cross-country ski and was going to the olympic trials for Finland. However, knee problems caused him to drop out. One of his good friends had the same problem, so I extrapolated. Cue the xkcd slide.

Atheletes wear their bodies out, same as construction workers, but but you can't overuse your brain. Your brain has no moving parts to wear out, unlike your body. All the mentally sharp geriatrics I've known actively used their brains a lot, and IINM there have been studies proving this.

I'm not sure about the eye damage, but the only damage would be to the cornea, and I wouldn't worry about that. [slashdot.org][article] What you should worry about is if you're severely nearsighted you're at risk of retinal detachment [slashdot.org][jour

You cannot overwork a brain. Too much stress is bad but mental exercise is != stress. As long as you get the proper amount of sleep you will never hurt your brain by working it too much. The lack of sleep won't necessarily hurt your brain, you just cannot benefit from sleep if you don't sleep.

Is the 20 year old "Professional gamer" with the "aerobic health as a 60-year-old smoker" in that condition due to gaming, or is he gaming because that's all he can do, because of some pre-existing limitation?

I ask, because it takes longer for a sedentary life style to put you in THAT bad shape than your typical 20 year old would have in the interval between highschool and their 20th birthday.

Where does one get a job being a "professional gamer" other than working for a game developer?

It doesn't take that long. I used to do judo but after a couple of broken relationships I just sat at home (and at work), read books and eat. I've gained almost 50 kg in just 5 years and could barely walk 200 meters. Once you are fat you can get sleep apnoea, and once you have that, it is almost impossible to lose weight without doing something against it.

Once you can sleep properly it is much easier to lose all that fat and start living again, though. Just walked 4 km and feeling good:-)

Online gaming actually helped me understand real-life sports. When I was a kid my dad took me to Hockey and Soccer and other organized sports, and I never really "got it". I didn't have any aggression in my personality and when the parents were saying "it's not important to win, it's important to have fun" I actually took them to heart and didn't care about the game, at all.

I finally figured out the pleasure of cooperative sport playing Counterstrike in my bedroom. I actually got pretty decent and had momen

In most cases, Eye Hand Coordination is a big factor in sports, and a big factor in gaming.Obviously there are exceptions like soccer and checkers, but yeah there is a lot of cross over.

I would have thought this was immediately obvious as someone who has both played video games and sports competitively.The biggest difference from a competitive point of view? Video games put you completely at the mercy of developers, and it sucks.

Who wants to spend a year refining a particular talent for a video game, and t

Videogames are not that different from traditional sports: there is a rule set that exists to define the sport, but those rules do not determine the quality of the player. In fact, a good player never complains about patches, because she can change her strategy accordingly. The evolution of the starcraft II beta is a good example of this. To me, there are two measurements that determine the quality of every sport, and it helps to motivate why we appreciate some sports more than others: Game-critical decisio

I wonder if the study focused on whether or not both groups display high levels of testosterone and high levels of competitiveness. I always figured that the constant tea-bagging and shit-talking in Halo and such were just virtual depictions of the same male-centric dominance instinct that athletes display by making fouls, being unnecessarily belligerent, or just being douchebags in general. I know both groups often (though not always) display an attitude of elitism towards those that are not part of the, '

That said, I think football and soccer would be funnier if the scoring team tea-bagged their rivals every time they made a point.

Turnabout is fair play, you really want the halo team to dance, hug each other, and rub each others butts after a kill and then take a shower together after the game, while the elderly newspaper writers watch, er, I mean interview them? I could do without that creepy stuff.

I know that competitive sports are so popular because they, essentially, allow for the enactment of modern alpha-male style dominance displays.

You know that? That really doesn't explain why so many people root for the underdog. I think your trying to over analyze the fact that people like to compete and have fun, as well as watching said action.

I play video games and I'm quite good. I always rank high in reaction time games like racing and also RTS games too. I was actually the #7 ranked platinum player in the Starcraft II Beta before it reset:) and I guess I break the stereotype because I'm extremely fit and in shape. One reason is I have a gym membership that I actually use and secondly, I play Dance Dance revoltion! The estimates of calories burned per song are between 10 and 35 and they're all under 2 minutes long. I have freakishly stro

Seriously though, I think there are a lot of physical activities that gamers would enjoy if they just put forth the effort to go and try them. For example, I own just about every Star Wars game there is, and I'm pretty big on medieval settings.

There was a thing this past weekend at the local military museum, which had preformers of warriors from all era's, ancient Roman Gladiators, Vikings, Crusaders, Imperialistic, civil war, WW

A few of my friends who have far less long-term injuries than I do (vertabrae fusion, wrist/knee/hip problems, and more) are active participants in the local LARP and/or Dagorhir communities. Every one of them is in awesome shape.

Seriously though, I think there are a lot of physical activities that gamers would enjoy

This might sound crazy, but I've found that my gaming skills have improved over the years, thank in part to my study of tai chi chuan.

I used to notice that I'd get all cramped up with painful hands and feet after a half-hour of playing a game (or just sitting at my computer, for that matter). I'm older than the average gamer, and I found that no matter which online game I tried, I'd be one of the worst players in the g

I don't find that to be crazy at all. My fiancee experienced a similar bump in her gaming ability (and general well being) when she started to really get into yoga. Learning how to focus her breathing and tightening certain muscles while simultaneously relaxing others has provided her with an increase in general concentration, mentally and physically. She's said it has helped her in many aspects of her life, but the most obvious one I've noticed (other than her increased flexibility, rawr) is that she ha

For a certain subset of gamers, they are playing games as an escape from reality. For a subset of that subset, they are supplanting their inability to achieve in real life with their ability to achieve in the game. Where as one person might find the idea of putting on a full suit of armor and swinging around a heavy weapon to be fun, there are others who would just consider it a burden and find that the experience reenforced thei

Athletes meet cheerleaders and gamers meet avatars, and those avatars are probably better looking than the cheerleaders. And don't tell me I'm sexist because there is almost no chance that you are 1) female, 2) heterosexual, 3) a gamer, and 4) reading this post.

This may come as a shock to you, but there have been real women on the Internet for a while now.

Go ahead and try asking a 9 year old girl online for her address, then explain when law enforcement comes to pay you a visit that you were just "role playing"! Point is, don't make any assumptions about who it is that you are communicating with online. Myself, I always just assume the typist at the other end is an FBI agent trolling for evidence of criminal activity.

Yeah, that "I thought it was an 18 year old woman, not a 10 year old boy" excuse always holds up really well in court... and those news articles about how you were sexting with minors won't embarrass you at all.